Chitipa District Council has handed over infrastructure constructed under the World-Bank funded Governance to Enable Service Delivery (Gesd) projects in various parts of the district with a call to communities to take care of the infrastructure.
District commissioner Charles Mhone made the appeal on Wednesday during the handover of a staff house at Mahowe Health Centre in Traditional Authority Nthengatenga in the district.
He said decent accommodation is essential for motivating health workers serving in hard-to-reach rural areas.
Said Mhone: “It is important that our medical staff should have proper accommodation. Mahowe is far from the proper road network, proper phone network and everything.
“There is no good motivation here. This modern house will motivate our members of staff to work hard and continue providing quality health services to communities.”
He said the district council has more development plans for Mahowe Health Centre, including the construction of an outpatient department (OPD) structure and an additional staff house within the current financial year.
“In two or three weeks, we will hand over the site for the construction of an OPD facility and another staff house at the facility,” said Mhone.
The facility’s in-charge Mike Chanyuka described the staff house as a major milestone that will improve staff welfare and boost their morale to work hard.
“I can assure the district council that we will take good care of the house,” he said.
The council also handed over other projects, including staff houses at Syumbi Primary School and at Kameme Extension Planning Area as well a water supply system in T/A Kameme and a classroom block at Chatu Primary School in T/A Mwenemisuku.
Gesd is a performance-based World Bank grant which enables district councils to implement projects to improve service delivery.
District councils that qualify for the funds implement the projects under the supervision of the National Local Government Finance Committee
